INVESTOR GROUP SUES FUGITIVE BROKER

A group of 62 investors from around the country is suing a fugitive commodities dealer from Fort Lauderdale and his firms, which lost about $7 million.

Defendant David W. Meek, president of Resource Investment Fund Ltd. (RIF), faces arrest because he failed to appear in May for a federal court hearing in connection with a related federal investigation.

Other defendants include Albert Niels, his brother Christian Niels, and Daniel Quinzani, all of Lausanne, Switzerland; Don A. Bernardine, Meek's father-in-law and a resident of Fort Lauderdale; and Joseph Caprio of Newport Beach, Calif. None of the individuals in the United States could be reached for comment.

Corporate defendants include Resource Investment, a British Virgin Islands corporation that did business in Broward County; and Euro Vest, a Panamanian corporation that also operated in Broward County.

Through these and other corporate entities, the defendants defrauded the investors of an unspecified sum, according to the lawsuit filed in Broward County Circuit Court by Miami lawyer J. Michael Nifong.

Investors were told their money would be pooled for speculation on commodities, real estate partnerships and oil and gas partnerships, according to the suit.

Nifong said he believes that the defendants "squandered" investor funds on salaries, loans and other "improper purposes." The plaintiffs have tried to redeem their investments in RIF, but RIF has failed to comply with their requests, according to the suit.

The U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission earlier obtained a federal court order freezing $300,000 in assets held by Meek. In May, a federal judge in Miami sent Meek to jail for two days because Meek failed to provide the CFTC with access to his records.

Meek later released 16 boxes of records, but CFTC investigator Joe Vargyas said the regulatory agency discovered he still had not fully complied with the court order. Meek failed to appear at a later hearing, and the judge issued an arrest warrant.

In addition to the CFTC, the FBI and Florida Comptroller's Office also have been investigating the commodities pools that Meek operated, sources said.